Optimism Discussion: The Laker's Sky Is Not Falling

The only thing we need to worry about is us and making 12-13 3s a game when I see the level of non defense played by others teams in the West .

129 pts given up to the Grizz

 

My bad, read the NBA schedule wrong. That’s game 4. OK scratch that .... no optimism here .... I saw all of GT last night lurking. We’re doomed.

 

It is weird that we come back to LA with only the standard day off between games but then we have two days between games in LA. They should have played Friday and Sunday but my guess is there was a scheduling conflict.

 

time off helps our stars but also helps paul, so i'm good with short rest. he's the head of the snake there; know what to do with those.

 

Paul is permanently damaged. No rest will help his shoulder. He tore something in there.

 

you think so? they should probably formally shut him down then. and if you're right and they don't, there's really no excuse not to exploit that.

 

I think he should keep playing so it's easier for the Lakers to win. But that's just me.

 

I’m in a very odd position as a Laker fan that is honestly foreign territory for me.

We are still title contenders. I want to win another championship more than anything. And for whatever reason, despite all evidence to the contrary ... I just have maintained a good feeling this whole season. Just something in my gut tells me that we will overcome all the adversity and at the end of the day we’ll end up winning.

But if I’m totally wrong and our injuries just become too much to overcome, maybe we even end up losing this first round ... I’m at peace with that. It just wouldn’t be our year. Repeating is already tough enough as is, and nothing is going to ever take away how special the 2020 title was to me. Just as a basketball fan, it might even be fun to see for example a Utah vs Milwaukee finals and demonstrate that the small markets still stand a chance.

But if we got eliminated and it ended up being a Brooklyn vs Clips finals ... yeah that would be painful.

 

this aged poorly.

 

You know what else aged poorly?

 

randy quaid?

 

here's my optimism: none of our guards look like they're going to price us out of keeping them if we want to. a couple months ago, i was worried somebody was going to max out THT and throw 4/60 at caruso (who's been pretty good, to be fair), but i don't think that's happening. i also think schroder's agent is going to have to work hard on s&ts to get him the cash he wants, which could help us, too. no team with big cap space is watching this series and thinking "schroder's our missing piece".

 

We could use a change in our guard lineup regardless.

 

i actually like all five of our guards, particularly as complements to lebron (AD could use another real pg on the roster, imo).

i don't see a realistic way we upgrade at guard next year without causing other holes in the roster, tbh.

 

There will be changes as the shots bricking continues .

 

i don't think we'll find better shooters with the cash we'll have. kcp and the eagle both shot 40% on the year. kuz shot 36%. matthews and schroder were down at 33%, which needs to be better, but still...we're just cold as a team at the wrong time.


that stat about how badly we underperformed our shot quality in game 1 will haunt me all offseason. we could have easily been up 3-0 when AD went down...

 

I think we need to find a superior offensive player/playmaker to make up for our shooting struggles and AD always potential absence going forward by trade

 

Is it just the pressure of being a Laker??? Look at Danny Green and Bullock. We have to find shooters who don't succumb to the LA pressure.

 

And .... what exactly .... is the formula for “that” on top of all the other normal difficulties finding players who are true shooters and can play at least decent defense? With our cap situation and not wanting to gut too many Important role players to do it? What’s Rob supposed to do, ask, “you’re not going to start sucking at shooting when you come to LA, right?”